Annals of Indian Psychiatry

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Context: Attitudes of paramedical and medical professionals to psychiatric illnesses are important for referral and use of mental health facilities by general people. Knowledge of psychiatric disorders and experience of working with psychiatric patients may be responsible for positive attitudes. Aims: The aim was to assess attitude toward different mental illnesses among different paramedical professionals and to know the impact of education and work experience on attitudes toward mental illnesses. Subjects and Methods: Study sample was nursing staff, nursing students, and junior doctors from tertiary care hospital and students of clinical psychology from a private deaddiction center. The study design was cross-sectional. Attitude to Mental Illness Questionnaire was used with modifications and addition of demographic details. Experience of working with psychiatric patients and attending mental health primary care (MHPC) program also were included for the evaluation of attitudes. Results: Attitudes toward drug abuse, depression, alcohol abuse, and schizophrenia were more negative while toward anxiety spectrum disorders, conversion, and dissociative disorders were more positive. Subjects with experience of working with psychiatric patients and experience of MHPC program showed more positive attitudes. Conclusions: There is need of, developing program containing knowledge of mental health, implementing practical experience of working with psychiatric patients in the curriculum of paramedical and medical profession and restructuring present curriculum to develop positive attitudes to mental illnesses for benefit of community.

Context: The number of elderly patients is expected to rise. However, the efforts required to integrate this aging population into our health-care system seem to be lacking. An improvement definitely has to be aimed for because the subject of geriatric medicine will personally concern each one of us in the future. Aims: This study aims to assess and compare knowledge, attitude, and perception toward elderly and aging in medical interns and postgraduate residents and compare attitudes toward aging among the different postgraduate branches. Settings and Design: This study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching municipal hospital and medical college. This was a cross-sectional study utilizing self-constructed structured questionnaires. Materials and Methods: Questionnaires on knowledge, attitude, and perception, constructed by the lead researcher and reviewed by an expert panel, were administered to the two groups. The responses were collected and analyzed. Statistical Analysis Used: Chi-square test and means of percentages were used. Results: Both groups showed a positive perception to the needs of the elderly. The interns showed a more negative attitude toward aging compared to the postgraduate students, with the differences being significant (P < 0.05) between the two groups in 16 out of 45 questions. On the knowledge questionnaire, a significant (P = 0.014) difference was seen between the teaching in interns and postgraduates. The analysis also revealed that general medicine and psychiatry had the best scores on the attitude questionnaire. Conclusions: Although the perception of elder-friendly city is same in both groups, interns have a more negative attitude toward aging which could stem from the inadequate knowledge being imparted during the undergraduate medical curriculum. Hence, there is a need to introduce geriatric medicine at an undergraduate level.

Background: Occupational stress is common in nurses. Stress can impact the health of the nurses leading to somatic complaints. Aims and Objectives: (1) To determine the extent and causes of occupational stress among nurses at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Hospital. (2) To compare the stress levels among nurses depending on their years of experience. (3) To study any correlation between stress levels and the extent of somatic complaints. Materials and Methods: Ninety-seven staff nurses without any preexisting psychiatric illness were evaluated for occupational stress using the Expanded Nursing Stress Scale. The extent of somatization was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire – 15, in a cross-sectional study. Cronbach's alpha, analysis of variance, and Spearman's correlation co-efficient test were applied to the data. Results: An internal consistency of 0.945 was noted using Cronbach's alpha. 51.5% nurses experienced mild, 34% experienced moderate, and 2.10% experienced severe stress. Conflicts with supervisors, patients, and their families and workload were the main causes of occupational stress while discrimination was the least affected domain. Nurses with 6–10 years of experience had maximum stress. The stress levels correlated with the extent of somatic complaints. Conclusions: Occupational stress is prevalent in nurses. It may be higher in nurses with lesser experience and it can be associated with somatic complaints.

Online since 29^th May, 2017